Goodbye
by Rosesdancinginmymind
Summary: AU Oneshot based slightly off the 3x06 promo. Regina tracks down her father (Rumple) in Neverland.


_AN: This is a one-shot based off the Ariel promo (kind of). AU because Rumple is Regina's father. I don't really know how to describe this aside from Regina tracks down her father in Neverland. Beyond that I don't want to spoil anything. I don't own Once or its characters. Apologies for any mistakes. Hope you enjoy :)_

Regina listens patiently as Emma discusses her plan to go find Neal. She knows she won't be going with them. They need Neal to get home but she needs to find someone else, someone who can help them defeat Pan. Unless they can do that being able to get home is meaningless to her. Without Henry there is no home. Ultimately she knows that whilst she and Emma are strong, maybe strong enough to defeat Pan, that she doesn't want to force the saviour to potentially tarnish her heart. That leaves only one other person she trusts to help her. She waits until Emma finishes her speech before calling out to her, "Emma, can we talk?"

Emma looks at her curiously before approaching, "Okay what's up?"

"I'm not going with you"

She blinks in surprise before her face settles into a serious expression, "Regina we shouldn't separate it isn't safe"

Regina smiles at the saviour's concern, "I'll be okay Emma"

"What is so important that you would risk your life by going off on your own?"

"I need to find my father" Regina states determination laced in every word.

"Oh" Emma says in understanding before placing her hand lightly over Regina's arm, "Regina he might not even be-"

"Don't" Regina interrupts, "He's out there Emma and he can help us. Just please give me a chance to bring him back" she doesn't care how pleading it sounds, she has to do this.

Emma sighs her brow creasing as she thinks, "One chance?" she asks.

"One chance" Regina confirms. Before she wouldn't have even asked permission but now that they have been in Neverland and know its dangers, well some of them, it seems better for them all to know where they are and who's doing what.

The blonde shoots a look back at her parents who are watching the exchange curiously, "Just today Regina. We meet back here tonight"

"Wait, in case something happens" Regina says fumbling in her pocket for her spare mirror. They used one yesterday to speak to Henry but she has one more, "Here" she says holding one half out to Emma. "That way if plans change we can keep up to speed"

Emma nods before stepping closer to Regina, her hand still on the brunette's arm, "Just promise me you'll be careful" she says quietly. Her eyes look down avoiding the chocolate ones above her but Regina knows what's in them all the same – fear, fear of losing someone else to Pan.

Regina tilts the blonde's chin up before taking a deep breath and looking her in the eye, "I promise Emma. Stay safe Emma and believe in yourself"

Emma smiles, "I'll try. Good luck" she says before adding, "I'll see you tonight" she walks away to explain the change in plans to her parents who look to Emma before looking over at Regina in mild alarm. Regina watches as the blonde assures them that their plan hasn't changed and that they can still find Neal regardless. She scowls as Hook makes some sort of flirty comment feeling that stirring of jealousy again before pushing it down. With one final glance at Emma she turns and makes her way into the jungle.

The forestry is dense as ever, thick green leaves smacking into her body from every angle as tries to avoid tree stumps and deadlier plants. Luckily for her magic is easier to trace on this island or else she'd never be able to track her father's whereabouts. After his disappearance she'd felt no signs of any magic aside from her own and the light tinge of one she didn't recognise, maybe Pan's. This morning however as they discussed their plans she sensed a magic she knew. By now after all their years together both as master and apprentice and father and daughter she knows his magic on instinct. She just hopes he hasn't gone too far into the jungle and that Neverland hasn't got him in its clutches. She knows the pull of this island, the temptation of darkness, so far she's managed to avoid it but that's only been by focussing on her drive to find Henry and Emma stopping her from using her magic too frequently. Her father though having decided he would be better off on his own has had no such limits and so she can't help but worry about what state she will find him in.

She follows the path of magic until she feels its levels drastically increase practically pulling her towards the source. She stops behind a rock when she hears a voice. Her father's voice. She frowns hearing no voice respond before creeping round to listen better.

"Belle you don't understand. I have to save Henry"

There's silence before he continues, "You saw what Neal did. He knew to put Henry first. Regina will know the same. I have to do this"

Regina frowns again wondering what on earth he's talking about. Whatever it is she can't say she likes the sound of it. Her frown only deepens when she steps into the clearing and sees the affect this island has had on him. There's no-one else there. She sighs knowing that if he's already hallucinating that in his own personal battle with this island he's already losing.

She steps out fully into the clearing before speaking, "Dad"

He turns from his conversation and she gasps taking in the smeared berries over his face and the wild look in his eyes. He looks at her before whirling round to where his vision stands. "No" he says, "You're a trick" he accuses pointing at her.

Regina freezes, normally a witty barb would fall out of her lips in response but in this moment it hardly feels right. He thinks she isn't real and honestly that hurts almost as much as the fact that he left in the first place.

"I'm real" she says her voice coming out even in spite of the lump in her throat. She's made it a point with herself not to cry on this island. She's wanted too more times than she can count but Neverland thrives on the loss of hope as much as it does on belief and she refuses to break down and admit how hopeless she feels. Her son is out there somewhere trapped and losing faith, her brother imprisoned by Pan and her father out here losing his grasp on reality. All these things make it pretty hard to keep hope and to stay strong but to defeat Pan she needs to be tough, to do whatever it takes.

Rumple steps closer to her looking her up and down, "No" he says again, "Bae was here for real. You're just here to leave me too, remind of how little I have!" he spits out angrily and she wonders what happened between father and son to incur this sad bitterness.

"I'm not going to leave" she says, "I'm here to bring you back"

He ignores her before turning back to Belle, "You see what this island is doing right? It's trying to keep me from saving Henry. She's not real" he says insistently. "You are, aren't you Belle?" he asks to the thin air oblivious to the sorrowful expression on his daughter's face as she watches him caress an invisible cheek.

Regina sighs again knowing that like yesterday when she had to temporarily remove that young boy's heart that she must resort to desperate measures. Guilt washes over her for a moment over the events of yesterday but doing that meant they were able to see Henry and hopefully prevent him from falling deeper into Pan's clutches. She was able to see her son alive and tell him they all loved him. Yesterday the method though regrettable led to a great reward, she hopes that the desperate measure she's about to take will work too.

She clenches and unclenches her fists before taking a deep breath and tapping into the magical field around her. Regina winces feeling the dark magic connect with her own but upon looking up she can now see what her father does, Belle. No wonder he thinks she's real she thinks hoping that what she's about to do brings him back to reality and not further into his delusion.

She raises her hand focussing on channelling her own magic before using it to push against the dark shadow magic pulling at her. Pain floods her feeling like tiny needles rippling up and down her arms as she fights the thick fog of magic.

"What are you doing?" Rumple bellows fearfully before trying to stop her by grabbing her arm.

"Are you really buying this?" she asks not to be callous but to see if he's willing to accept that she is real and his vision is not.

"You're hurting her!" he screams.

"She's not real!" she yells back before summoning as much energy as she can manage and throwing it all at the mirage of Belle. She feels drained as the force of such magic hits her and threatens to pull her into the same madness as her father, she swears she can see Henry flash before her eyes in the bush but it's not real. She touches the mirror in her pocket. He's still with Pan. A lone tear rolls down her cheek at the harsh truth but she cannot afford to lose herself to delusions. She blinks her eyes back open, trying to ignore the pull of exhaustion, in time to see her own magic consume Belle. The figure shrieks before a shadow emerges.

Rumple gasps in realisation as Regina stares fearfully up at the dark looming figure hovering above them. That isn't Pan's shadow. She's seen it, glimpses of it as it flies across the island. A pit grows in her stomach as she turns to her father, "Dad what did you do?" she asks quietly.

"Regina" is what he says before he pulls her into a quick hug, "I did what I had to"

She doesn't hug back afraid of what those six words mean, "Is that yours?" she asks though part of her knows the answer already.

"Yes" he admits pulling away from her.

She stares at him in shock. No wonder he's in such a state. There's a reason you don't separate your shadow from yourself, one he taught her many years ago. One's shadow is meant to be tethered to oneself, that shadow in return tethers a person to reality. Only Pan who is an ingrained part of this island now can control his own shadow and separate it without losing touch with himself. Her father though in spite of all his experience is not the master of the shadow realm. What he has done is given his shadow to this island and opened up the path for Neverland and Pan to taunt him to the brink of madness.

"Why?" she asks.

"Because I have to defeat Pan. A shadow here only holds me back, stops me from doing whatever I need to do" he says coolly.

"What you need to do is put that back" Regina argues back quickly, her tone rising somewhat in fear and anger that he would do something so reckless.

"I can't Regina"

"Yes you can!" she snaps, "Do you know what will happen to you without it?"

"I'll die" he says matter-of-factly.

She blinks as her mouth parts again. Nothing comes out. How can he be so casual about his own demise? "You can't" she says a dismayed look crossing her features.

"I have to Regina" he says as he begins an attempt to explain. She cuts him off though, "No. You don't. Put your shadow back and come back with me then you can help us and together we can defeat Pan"

He sighs before placing his hands on his daughter's shoulders. "Regina that's not going to happen." He sees her about to try and reason with him but he stops, "Please let me explain" she nods and gestures for him to continue, "There's a prophecy that states Henry will be my undoing. When I first heard about this plan I was fully prepared to kill him" Regina stares horror stricken at this, "But then that boy turned out to be your son. Bae's son too. My grandson. I can't kill him. For most of my life Regina I have been a selfish coward always putting my needs first, ahead of my children, ahead of everything but now I want to the right thing. I love you and I love Bae and I will not let harm befall your son so I may live. When it comes down to him or me, he should live."

"There has to be a way for you both to live" Regina replies defiantly.

He shakes his head with a sad smile, "There isn't. The prophecy was clear"

"No it wasn't" she argues, "Undoing doesn't necessarily mean death"

"Regina" he tries but again she cuts him off, "No you don't have to do this! I can help you" she says insistently.

"You can't Regina. Please let me do this"

"How can you expect me to sit by and let you sacrifice yourself like this?" she asks as moisture creeps into her eyelids betraying the simmering anger of her tone.

"Because you have to focus on your son. Get him back Regina. Get him home. Don't worry about me" he says beginning to turn away.

"No" she whispers before her voice grows louder, "No. No. No. Dad wait!" she yells before running after him and grabbing his shoulder, "Please don't do this" she pleads.

"Regina love I'm sorry but I have to. I won't let you or Bae lose your son because of me." this time Regina is the one who hugs him as she lets a few tears slip free from her eyes, he holds her tightly for a few moments before letting go. Rumple takes the moment to take in his daughter's face for the last time as he kisses the top of her head, "Good luck. I love you" he whispers before clicking his fingers. "I love you too" Regina whispers back as pinkish smoke envelops him taking him and the shadow far away.

Her trek back to the campsite is one with a heavier heart than the one she left with. All she can do is replay that conversation in her head as she numbly pushes those damn leaves aside and walks on. No-one else is there upon her return. Good she thinks, she's not sure she wants to be around them all just yet.

She seats herself upon one of the rocks still thinking about her father. In her heart she knows that what he said to her was goodbye. Goodbye. It sounds so final. She can remember her own goodbye to Henry not so long ago, in the end it turned out to be unneeded. Regina can still feel that certainty that the trigger would take her life and that sorrow that she had been saved only to die and so she said what she felt her son needed to know. The important things, her regret and that she loved him. That was all that mattered for her in the end. That he knew those things. She wonders if they helped when he found out that she was willing to sacrifice herself for him and his family. She had hoped they had. Sitting here though knowing her father wants to sacrifice himself for her son, the goodbye doesn't make her feel better. If anything it just causes tears to spring forth into her eyes and dribble down her cheeks.

She failed. She failed to bring him back. Instead he is going off to die. Anger brims deep below the surface mingling with her sadness, why couldn't he have had faith in her? They could have worked out a way to save Henry and make sure he didn't die. She's sure they could have done. Now though she may never know.

_Get him back Regina. Get him home_.

She will. She will get Henry back no matter what and with Neal's help, if Emma was more successful than she was, they will get home. Regina just wishes that her father would be coming with them.

_Good luck. I love you_.

She cries into her hands as those five words echo in her ears. He loves her and yet he left her. He left her because he was planning to die. He knew all along. He must have done. And yet knowing he would die he came anyway. He came to save her son because his love for her and Bae beat out his selfish desire to live. As much as she's trying to be angry she can't help but feel strangely proud and loved by his sacrifice, even if it hurts.

Regina can vaguely hear footsteps approaching but right now she can't bring herself to care. Instead she continues to cry for the first time on this godforsaken island. Her son is still missing. Her father is sacrificing himself because of a prophecy. In this moment she's still too tired from her journey and the magic to put up her defences, to brush these things off and pretend everything will be okay. Right now she wants her son and she wants her dad. She has neither. What she has is a glimpse of her son in a mirror and five words telling her that she is loved. That has to be enough. Tomorrow it will be. Tonight though she lets all those pent up feelings of loneliness and loss that she's felt since they stepped foot on Neverland spill out in her sobs. Tonight there is no evil queen or mayor, there's a mother without her son and a daughter without her father. She doesn't know if she can change either of those things.

_AN 2: So I was sitting down to write Promises and then I saw the CTV promo and this idea popped into my head and just wouldn't leave. I'm always happy to hear what you guys think. Thank you very much for reading :)_


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